


Visiting Jack

by bananasandroses (achuislemochroi)



Series: Whofic [68]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awkward Conversations, F/M, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Tenth Doctor Era, post-reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 18:13:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8811043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achuislemochroi/pseuds/bananasandroses
Summary: Jack is the first person they visit.





	1. ‘I take it you two have something you want to tell me?’

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Always Too Late](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/246820) by dave7. 



After she comes back – when they’re capable of keeping their hands off each other in public, and each is more-or-less comfortable with the idea of letting the other be more than a handsbreadth away from them – Jack is the first person they visit.

Rose, because she hasn’t seen him in – _oh_ , so long. The Doctor, because he has something to ask of him.

When Jack has finished hugging Rose ’til she’s almost out of breath, the Doctor puts his hand on his shoulder and asks if he might have a word. Jack nods and the two of them retreat outside for a few minutes. When they come back in, Jack watches as the Doctor approaches Rose with a look in his eyes that he wishes was directed at him.

‘Doctor?’ Rose has noticed the look in the Doctor’s eyes; Jack can tell, because her tone betrays her nervousness. And Rose is not the only one who’s nervous – the Doctor’s hand has found its way to his head and his fingers are ruffling through his hair.

‘Rose.’ The Doctor’s voice is like honey as his whole attention shifts to her; Jack doesn’t need telling that his presence is surplus to requirements, and he slips away unnoticed.

When he comes back some time later, the Doctor has Rose in his arms and is whispering something to her. Jack clears his throat to announce his presence and the two of them look up. Jack doesn’t think he’s ever seen the Doctor look quite so happy.

‘So … I take it you two have something you want to tell me?’


	2. Crossed Wires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ‘Perfectly easy mistake to make, happens all the time.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who wondered what the Doctor meant when he asked Jack if he ‘might have a word’ in Chapter 1. 
> 
> Crackish; you've been warned.

After the door closed behind himself and the Doctor, separating them from Rose so the two of them could speak privately, Jack watched the Doctor get straight to the point. It was obvious that he still felt somewhat guilty about the whole “wrong” conversation, and Jack would wager that he didn't want to leave Rose any longer than he had to, either. In the short period of time he’d seen the two of them since they’d arrived, he’d seen nothing that suggested they actively liked being apart from each other.

‘Jack?’

‘Doctor?’

‘Will you marry me?’

After seeing how the Doctor had been with Rose only seconds ago – looking at her with an expression on his face that said that all his Christmases had come at once – when the Time Lord had asked for ‘a quick word’ Jack had _not_ seen this coming.

‘Lemme get this straight. _You_ want _me_ to _marry_ you. Is that right?’

‘That’s what I said, Jack. Will you? Marry me, that is?’

Jack was starting to feel rather flustered.

‘This is all rather _sudden_. I wasn’t expecting this. Have you told Rose yet?’

‘Rose?’

‘Yes. _Rose_. You know – the beautiful girl in there who loves you more than life? _That_ Rose.’

Jack saw something unreadable flash across the Doctor’s expression before he turned his attention back to him. He looked slightly confused, so Jack clarified things for him a little. ‘Doctor, I’m not marrying you without Rose’s consent.’

‘But it’s supposed to be a surprise!’ The Doctor appeared to be getting more confused by the second.

‘You call breaking her heart a _surprise_? I don’t know about Time Lords, but let me tell you this – it’s not what humans would call a ‘nice’ surprise.’ It was then Jack’s turn to be surprised as he saw the Doctor’s face fall.

‘You mean she doesn’t want to marry me?’ The Doctor’s voice was small and his tone heart-broken and for just a moment Jack saw a vision of a young, unsure little boy rather than the man with all of time and space at his fingertips. And then what the Doctor had said finally registered with his brain and he felt himself blush as the penny dropped.

‘Wait … I thought you wanted to …’ Jack trailed off miserably as the Doctor blinked at him, as he too seemed to realise what Jack had been thinking.

‘Jack, flattered as I am —‘ the Doctor got no further as Jack interrupted.

‘No, no, it’s quite all right. Perfectly easy mistake to make; happens all the time. Of _course_ I will marry you. To Rose.’

Jack couldn’t look the Doctor in the eye; he just wanted this conversation to be _over_. And then the Doctor seemed to decide that he’d been away from Rose for quite long enough, thank you very much, and walked back into the room where she was waiting for him.

Jack took a moment to calm himself down before following the Doctor back in. It was his Hub, after all. He could go where he liked.

He just wished he didn't feel _quite_ so much of an idiot.


	3. Touchy Feely

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _If he doesn’t say this_ now _, then he never will._
> 
> (In which the Doctor summons up his courage, and Rose receives a proposal.)

The door clicks behind them and the Doctor, with what little part of his mind is not trained solely on Rose, realises that they are finally alone again. He intends to use the time to his advantage.

He walks closer to Rose, the fingers of his right hand brushing gently against hers the nearer he gets to her. Taking her hand into his, he brushes his lips over the tips of her knuckles – all the time while keeping eye contact with her.

He’s still not convinced that she’ll not disappear if he takes his eyes off her for longer than a few seconds, so much did her disappearance damage him. He hopes that eventually her return will help heal those particular wounds.

But he doesn’t want to think about the past any more. He takes another step closer, close enough so the skirt of his overcoat (why he's wearing his overcoat in here is a mystery to him, but never mind that right now) brushes the bare skin of her legs (that short-skirted thing she’s wearing is driving him to distraction; he doesn’t know how much more of this he can take).

And still he holds her hand. That's the thing he’s missed most, holding her hand; he still finds it incredibly difficult to know when to let go. He can’t hold her hand _every_ hour of the day and night, although Chaos knows he’d like to. They’re just at the point of this blossoming new relationship of theirs that means they’re confident enough about setting boundaries with each other – but the hand-holding, and the lack of any kind of ‘personal space’, are throwbacks to their old life, and the idea of changing either thing is anathema to both of them.

Another step, still holding her hand, and he’s finally able to touch her properly. His fingers have been itching to touch her since they’d left the TARDIS, and it isn’t exactly as if they have an audience here. Even _Jack_ has disappeared. He leaves go of her hand for just a couple of seconds, long enough for him to close the distance between the two of them, and he lets his hands ghost down the sides of her body before deciding that enough is enough and pulling her gently into his embrace.

Touching her with his hands is not enough for him, but until he can get her back into the TARDIS – and he starts frantically calculating in his head just how soon he can do that and not appear _too_ rude – it will have to do. He uses his very clever hands to touch every inch of bare skin that he can reach, and it’s _still_ not enough. And then he remembers his secret weapon, the oral fixation – and the fact that he has his sonic screwdriver with him and can lock the door of the room they’re in if that’s what he wants to do. He almost does precisely that.

The temptation to make love to her with his mouth is almost overwhelming. But he holds back, much as the thought of it makes him want her even more, because he doesn’t trust Jack not to have cameras installed in weird and wonderful places. The last thing he wants is to feed Jack’s fantasies about Rose. He’s not stupid – he knows _exactly_ what kind of a man Jack Harkness is.

So instead of letting his tongue free to do what he wants to do – and he silently curses Jack as his fertile imagination provides him with the memory of the taste and feel of her beneath his tongue – he settles instead for drawing her to him and kissing her deeply. Not what he’d wanted, but not bad for second-best all the same.

He breaks first from the kiss – which is unusual for him, he knows, with his fancy alien respiratory bypass – because he knows if he doesn’t say this now then he never will. Reaching into his pocket, he fumbles for a second before bringing out a ring he’s had with him since just before the storm took her away from him at Canary Wharf. And looking directly at Rose, putting every ounce of meaning he can into the words, he asks the question on which all his hopes depend:

‘How long,’ he says, in a voice he hopes does not betray how much he wants her right at that moment, ‘are you going to stay with me?’

The answer is immediate.

‘For ever.’

He finds himself releasing a breath that he hasn’t even been aware he was holding.

‘And that, Rose, my love’ he says, slipping the ring on to her finger, ‘is exactly what I’d _hoped_ you’d say.’


End file.
